Thursday, April 24, 2008

Lost: 4.09 “The Shape of Things to Come”

Mental note: When playing with Ben, don’t change the rules.

Episode Recap:Whoa. I feel like I just ran a marathon watching that episode. If this one doesn’t spark discussion, nothing will. What a provocative return! Keamy and the freighter folk turn out to be cold-blooded assassins, the freighter doc is dead, Claire almost dies, Jack’s got an upset tummy, the freighter knows nothing about the dead doctor, Sayid gets married (to Nadia! Sniffle...), Smokey makes his triumphant return... and we see what happens when you take away the loved ones of Ben and Sayid. Whew!!

“On Top of Old Smokey! All Covered in Rage...” Without a doubt, the most amazing visual effect of the season is the return of Old Smokey, who hurtles into the camp like a gigantic angry pitbull to exact some serious revenge. So what the heck happened there? Ben insinuates that Jacob was the one who summoned the smoke monster, but we saw Ben enter an underground lair that looked very sarcophagal (yes, I just made that word up) and the next thing you know, he goes all medieval on their asses.

Damon and Carlton have said that with every appearance of the smoke monster, we learn more about it. It seems to attack the believers, like Eko and Locke. It allowed itself to be seen by Charlie, also a religious type. It can be scared away by sudden attacks like dynamite or the sonic fence, yet in this episode it runs headlong into battle and isn’t scared off by the machine guns at all. It can be called forth by someone, as it clearly was here... does that mean Jacob or Ben called it forth to kill Eko and the pilot? Who made it chase Juliet and Kate? Does it ever act of its own accord? Is the smoke monster the key between the true island believers – Jacob and Ben – and the ones who THINK they are – Locke and Eko?

Highlights: • Ben overpowering the two Arabs.• Sawyer referring to Rousseau, Karl, and Alex as “Frenchie and the Kids.”• The look on Miles’ face when Ben tells him he won’t be collecting the $3.2 million.• Ben “saying goodbye” to Alex... a rare moment of tenderness from him.• Sawyer threatening Locke if he touches one curly hair on Hurley’s head. We’ve come a long way from Sawyer calling Hurley cruel nicknames.

Biggest “GASP!” Moments:• Sayid and Nadia were married!! I hope we see more of what happened here, because that has got to be one of the saddest stories on the show yet. Poor Sayid... no wonder he seemed like an empty shell in “The Economist.”• Keamy shooting Alex in the head. The moment is so heartbreaking because of the final words Alex hears Ben say: that she’s not his daughter, she’s just a pawn, and she means nothing to him.• The final scene between Ben and Widmore. ACK! Does this mean we’ll see Desmond in the future when Ben begins hunting Penny?? I hope so!! (Desmond could have made it off the island, but wouldn’t be one of the Oceanic Six because he wasn’t on the plane.)

Hurley’s Numbers:The code on the sonic fence is 1623. Sayid says he searched for Nadia for 8 years. Ben tells the concierge that he’s here to see Mr. And Mrs. Kendrick in 4E. The date in Ben’s flashforward is October 24 (reverse 42).

Did You Notice?:• The title of this episode is from a novel by H.G. Wells. From Wikipedia (and therefore true):

The Shape of Things to Come is a work of science fiction by H. G. Wells, published in 1933, which speculates on future events from 1933 until the year 2106. It is not a novel, but rather a fictional history book or chronicle, similar in style to Star Maker and Last and First Men, both by Olaf Stapledon. Wells' book also shared with Stapledon's an understanding of the change wrought in the nature of war by the development of air power; both writers included harrowing depictions of cities destroyed in aerial bombardments, which proved an all too accurate prediction of what was to happen in the actual second World War.Wells creates a framing device by claiming that the book is his edited version of notes written by an eminent diplomat, Dr Philip Raven, who had been having dream visions of a history textbook published in 2106, and wrote down what he could remember of it.The book is dominated by Wells's belief in a world state as the solution to mankind's problems. Wells successfully predicted the Second World War, although he envisaged it dragging on into the 1960s, being finally ended only by a devastating plague that almost destroys civilisation. Wells then envisages a benevolent dictatorship - 'The Dictatorship of the Air' (a term obviously modeled on 'The Dictatorship of the proletariat') - arising from the controllers of the world's surviving transportation systems (the only people with global power). This dictatorship promotes science,enforces Basic English as a global lingua franca, and eradicates all religion, setting the world on the route to a peaceful utopia. When the dictatorship finds it necessary to kill political opponents, the condemned persons are given a chance to emulate the ancient philosophers Socrates and Seneca and take a poison tablet in a congenial environment of their choice.Eventually, after a century of re-shaping humanity, the dictatorship is overthrown in a completely bloodless coup, the former rulers are sent into a very honourable retirement, and the world state "withers away" as was predicted by Marx. The last part of the book is a detailed description of the Utopian world which emerges, in some way reminiscent of Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward.

• Ben is playing Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C# Minor, but not the way one should play it... it’s supposed to be loud and bombastic. (Ok, that probably had nothing to do with the episode, but it’s one of my favourite pieces, and I found it a son of a bitch to play.)• We FINALLY get a calendar date on one of the flashforwards: October 24, 2005. That’s ten months after the events we’re watching now.• Daniel saying he could construct a telegraph with strips of metal, a 9-volt battery clip and some wiring makes him come off like the Professor on Gilligan’s Island. I suppose next he’ll be constructing nuclear bombs out of coconuts and mangoes.• I mentioned in an earlier column that Ben’s identity on his passport, Dean Moriarty, is the name of the main character of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. Moriarty is also the name of Sherlock Holmes’ arch-nemesis, which is probably a more likely connection here.• Nadia’s assassin is named Ishmael Bakir. Ishmael is the name of the main character in Moby Dick, who begins as an important character involved in the action, and eventually just becomes a narrator who’s not really part of it. Ishmael is also the name of one of Abraham’s sons, and is the dividing point between Islam and Judeo-Christian religions: Muslims believe that Ishmael was Abraham’s eldest son and therefore the true heir, while the Jewish religion believes Isaac to be the true heir.• There were flashes in Smokey; I wonder if they were images of what just happened? Screencaps in the next few days will say for sure.

So Many Questions...• So are Rousseau and Karl dead? If I had to make a bet, I’d say Karl is, Rousseau isn’t.• I’ve mentioned a couple of times before that no one on the island ever seems to get sick – no colds, no flus, nothing like that – so what is the significance of Jack’s “stomach bug”? What medicine was he REALLY taking? (You don’t take antibiotics for a stomach bug.) What’s wrong with him?• Are we meant to assume some sort of connection between the freighter doctor dying and Jack feeling ill?• Hurley, playing Risk, says Australia is the key to the whole game. Is that a comment on the plot? Australia IS where the plane took off, after all.• How the hell did Ben end up where he was? He’s all shaky and freaky... did he just teleport there or something? From another place? From another time? What’s with the Dharma jacket?• The freighter folk shoot every single person with one bullet who runs outside near Sawyer. Yet despite him running around in broad sight, they don’t kill him with a single one of the dozens of bullets that come flying at him. Were they missing on purpose?• The woman at the Tunisian hotel takes pause when she sees Ben’s name in the register... why? What are Ben’s ties to Tunisia? He travels to Iraq to find Sayid, so the stopover in Tunisia didn’t seem to have any immediate significance... but we know nothing is by accident on this show, so there must be a reason they had him appear there in the first place.• How were Nadia and Sayid reunited? Why was she murdered?• What was Keamy doing as a mercenary in Uganda?• What does Ben mean when he says Widmore changed the rules?• What did the freighter person mean when they said the doctor was fine? Are they lying? Are they telling the truth? Are there two different time periods overlapping now, with the doctor simultaneously being fine on the freighter but dead on the island?• In “The Beginning of the End,” Hurley tells Jack in the flashforward that he never should have gone with Locke. Did he mean it was a mistake to have followed Locke in the first place, or it was a mistake to have gone with him later? Presumably, the worst is yet to come.• Does anyone else find Widmore’s accent terrible now that they’ve seen the actor on Ugly Betty using an American one?• Widmore says he’s been drinking whisky since the nightmares started. Nightmares about what?• There’s a LOT more to the conversation between Widmore and Ben than meets the eye. Widmore says that Ben killed Alex, and that he knows who and what Ben is. He says he took everything from Widmore. Ben says that they both know Ben can’t kill him. What’s that about?• Is Penelope on Sayid’s hit list, or is Ben keeping her death for himself?

That Final SceneWIDMORE: That island’s mine, Benjamin. It always was, it will be again.BEN: But you’ll never find it.WIDMORE: Then I suppose the hunt is on for both of us.

What does this scene mean? Ben says two or three times in the episode that “he’s changed the rules,” and he seems adamant that Widmore has crossed a line when he killed Alex, as if all the deaths we saw before were just pretend. What is going on here? Does this series owe something to that movie, The Game? In it, life becomes an elaborate game with various sides upping the ante until the big ending. (If you haven’t seen that movie, rent it; it’s brilliant.) Could Widmore and Ben be playing something between each other and using all these other people as pawns?

Unfortunately, CTV didn't air a preview for next week....

UPDATE: Both kids have decided to be up before 6, and by sleeping on it I've been able to digest more. As usual, I've come down to write down some of my extra thoughts and a few of you have beaten me to the punch on some of them.

Ben vs. Widmore: I think the island action ties in with the flashforward in a bigger way, and I'm becoming more convinced about the show resembling the plot of The Game. (This is one of those movies like The Usual Suspects with a big twist at the end, by the way, so I really don't want to say too much about it and give things away. Just see it.) He insists that Widmore changed the rules, and when Keamy is holding a gun to Alex's head, Ben shouts that she doesn't mean anything and she's just a pawn. He clearly expected Keamy to pull away and try another tactic, but instead Keamy just shot her. By calling Alex a pawn, I think he summed up how he feels about all of the survivors -- they're all pawns, too. And his actions toward Sayid prove it. Is Bakir innocent in all of this and Ben has just convinced Sayid that he did it? Or did Ben find out what Bakir did, sense an opportunity and jump on it? I was thinking the second option, and somehow, just like Sayid, Ben sucked me in with his story. But a few of you have suggested that Ben is behind it all, and killed Nadia to make Sayid his hitman, and now that makes perfect sense. Duh on me. This ties back to what happened in New Otherton, when Sawyer jumps into the house and asks why they're shooting everybody, and Ben tells him they're trying to make him really angry so that he'll come out with all guns blazing himself. That statement proves a couple of things: That Ben knows they weren't trying to kill Sawyer, but were just killing everyone around him to make him blunder and draw out the others from the house (clearly it's one of the rules of "the game"), and that Ben is now doing the same thing, killing Nadia to draw out Sayid's anger, and killing Widmore peeps to draw out Widmore.

Re: teleporting. I was thinking more about this one last night, too. I believe, as a couple of you have pointed out, that there are a certain number of wormholes in the world (8? 16? 23?) and Ben knows how to teleport to each of them. The thing he hasn't figured out, however, is knowing exactly which wormhole he's going to come out of. So he could have been wearing the Dharma coat because he had to be prepared just in case he popped out at the North Pole or something. So that's the significance of Tunisia... it's not an endpoint for him (and it's why he probably always stays at that hotel for no longer than one night) but it's just his wormhole in the Middle East to get him anywhere there. Perhaps another wormhole is in Nigeria, another in London, one in Sydney, another in L.A.... or at least near each of those places, which is why so much action happens in those places.

The question remains, if he's teleporting, he's moving from place to place, but is he also jumping time? Could he have travelled forward in time to nab Sayid? Or, more likely, was he already in 2007 and realized he could go back and secure Sayid's Assassination Services by simply going back and killing Nadia?

As Daniel said... "when" is relative.

UPDATE #2: Someone has posted that the ABC preview for next week has Kate saying Jack's appendix has burst. That's so weird, because I made the comment to my husband last night, "I hope it's not his appendix, since he's the only doctor around now!" That could be the connection to the dead doctor... could you imagine if we have to watch Jack operate on himself? ACK! I think I would pass out watching that.

UPDATE #3: I think rather than starting any new post on this episode, I'll just keep adding to this one (so keep checking back). After that episode, here are the key questions:• How did Ben suddenly wake up in Tunisia, and has he figured out how to move through wormholes of space and time?• Who/what controls Smokey? And where did Ben go when he went into the underground lair? Did he disappear for several weeks and it felt like seconds to the rest of them, or was he doing some crazy island voodoo and conjuring Smokey?• What is the relationship between Widmore and Ben? Are they immortal enemies somehow, like Highlander, as someone suggested? Or can they not be killed for the same reason Michael couldn’t commit suicide: the island isn’t done with them yet? Why is Widmore having nightmares and drinking so heavily?

My favourite theory so far was just posted by christemple in the comments, who suggested that somehow Penny has ended up on the island and is trapped there, where Ben is keeping her. So to take that line of thinking further, what if the line to the island closed for both men, and neither one knows how to get back? Could that be why Widmore is haunted by what he’s done? How did the opening to the island close?

My theory: When Penny realized she was trapped on an island with Desmond and Sawyer, she closed it herself. Seriously, ladies, wouldn’t you have done the same thing??

Jeff Jensen at EW has an excellent rundown of the episode, where he, among other things, points out some of the key significant October 24ths in history. Check it out here.

64 comments:

Anonymous
said...

WOW! Can you say intense! Worth the hiatus. When I saw the scene where Sayid was being interviewed on camera and he said something like "leaving me alone, I just buried my wife", and knowing that Ben just happened to show up, I felt that Ben had something to do with his wife's death. After seeing Ben smile after his encounter with Sayid just after Sayid killed the "person that killed Sayid's wife" (ahem), I KNEW Ben had set it all up and had her murdered. Why couldn't Sayid see through this...or at least figured it out later? As for Ben...most of the time you hate the guy, other times you admire him for his cleverness, and occasionally you sort of feel for him (saying goodbye to Alex)....Hm, this must be how Locke feels about Ben.

The Game is an interesting call, but I was reminded more of Highlander. That last scene left me feeling like Ben and Charles were immortals/aliens/vampires/who knows what, trapped in some epic, well, yes, game.

I'm guessing that Rousseau and Karl are both dead. Keamy doesn't seem like the sort who leaves anyone alive ... which is why you are so right about missing Sawyer so many times!

Could Jack be ill with Rousseau's "sickness?"

I'm guessing that Ben did just teleport into Tunisia, and that he came from wherever the Brazilian guys from the end of season 2 were. Perhaps a set of places on the earth's surface, including somewhere on the island (The Orchid, anyone?) are linked by some kind of wormholes through time and space. Ben certainly seemed confused about the date.

Finally, it seems that satellite phones aren't effected by whatever time distortion is around the island, but a telegraph is ... could this be because the signal goes straight up?

Nikki: "There’s a LOT more to the conversation between Widmore and Ben than meets the eye. Widmore says that Ben killed Alex, and that he knows who and what Ben is. He says he took everything from Widmore. Ben says that they both know Ben can’t kill him. What’s that about?"

is the game the one with ice T, from the '90s? it was a long, long time ago when i saw it, but i thought it was brilliant at the time. utterly chilling. oh, no, wait. that was *surviving* the game. i just looked it up on IMDB. never mind!

Does anyone else find Widmore’s accent terrible now that they’ve seen the actor on Ugly Betty using his real American one?

i'm not sure what you mean -- alan dale is from new zealand, not america? it's funny you should mention that, though, because tonight on lost, i very clearly heard a kiwi/aussie accent in his voice and yet i never heard that when he was on ugly betty. i can't remember if widmore is supposed to be british or not, though? if so, he didn't sound british to me tonight at ALL.

my laugh out loud moment was when they were all barricaded inside the house, waiting for the assassins to attack ... and the doorbell rang. hee!

i really thought clare was going to die tonight -- i am completely unspoilt for lost, but given that aaron survives, i figure she was one of the "8" jack referred to at kate's trial ... but also one of the "2" who died later (jin being the other one). so i figure she's got to die sometime between now and when the O6 are rescued. but, nope ... not tonight!

the scene with alex was *heartbreaking*. oh, my heart broke for her! the funny thing is, just before keamy shot her and was going on about "your daughter", when ben was all silent, i said to myself, "but she's NOT his daughter, not really. i wonder if he'll call keamy's blu--oh. damn!" poor alex. still, i suppose with karl dead and her thinking her mother is dead (i am in total denial land, because i LOVE rousseau and i refuse to believe she's dead until i see the body!) and her "father" turning on her like that ... i'd probably want to die, too. but still. *sniff*

did anyone else think jeremy looked like a scruffy, pint-sized version of jack tonight? not so much the hair, obviously, but the features.

when clare came to and the first thing out of her mouth was "charlie?", it made me so sad! but how awesome was sawyer stepping up to the plate and even calling her (non-sarcastically) sweetheart? awww! love him!

so, sayid found, married and buried nadia all within a 10 month span of being rescued? interesting.

as for tunisia / the sahara desert, wasn't rebecca exploring an archaeological dig in the sahara desert when we were first introduced to her? and didn't it have some sort of dharma tie in? (wasn't it a polar bear or something, or am i remembering it wrong?) but how did ben GET there?!

I'm exhausted. I think more happened in that episode than in any other episode.

Point of confusion: why did Ben say to Locke that Hurley had to be with them to find Jacob's cabin and yet at the end of the episode, Ben says "follow me", as though he knows exactly where he is going?

I'm not crazy about this Jacob storyline so I hope they make it worthwhile.

Wow. Can I just say that again? WOW. It felt like 60 seconds of television between each commercial break, and for the first time, I was actually glad there were breaks (I don't TiVo), so I could unclench my fists and take a deep breath.

Sawyer was SUCH a hero. I actually prayed for him not to die during the break after the house blew up. I guess my prayer was answered.

RE: Ben smiling after talking to Saiyid. That was sick. Saiyid too is just a pawn. It's ironic that the show starts with a literal game and ends with Ben and Widmore discussing the rules of the game. I don't think it's ever become so obvious that all these people we've followed for two years now may just be totally incidental to the "game" between Linus and Widmore. Or not. (Since the answer lies in Australia.) Were they handpicked and maneuvered to get on that flight?

Re: Sawyer not getting shot. It looks like he made a pretty valiant effort to not get shot. And it's hard to believe that Keamy etc. were trying to miss him, since they pretty much shot up every single thing that he was hiding behind.

Re: Ben in the Sahara. He explains to Saiyid that he got out using Des' boat, but that means he would have to be a sailor to boot, since it was a sailboat. Can this be the link between him and Widmore? Were they once both sailors who found the island? And Ben in a parka in the middle of a desert. This could be the wormhole explanation we've been playing with. Just like the polar bear got to the Sahara, maybe Ben found a wormhole, THOUGHT he was going to end up somewhere cold, and ended up in the desert instead?

Re: Old Smokey... I thought the flashes were from the guns firing inside.

Re: Ben and Alex. That was utterly heartbreaking, and in a way reassuring to see that Ben isn't ALL monster.

Re: Saiyid and Ben. That was a star turn for Naveen Andrews. Did you see the way his lips trembled. He looked as though he had lost everything.

What this left me thinking about was: who's the bad guy? Clearly we have two players now. Will we get to take a side or will we have to take a side?

HURRAH FOR SAWYER! He's my kicking ass and taking names hero.

(Finally, I've just been re-watching Angel, and realized how many Angel alums are on Lost. Sawyer and Bernard and Jin.)

Matt: Awesome point, and totally one I missed. I thought Ben spotted an opportunity and jumped in, but of COURSE it makes more sense that he actually killed her in the first place.

Eric: Interesting point on Highlander! I'll have to think on that one some more, but I like that theory.

Never thought of Jack having Rousseau's team's "sickness"! I always thought there was something in the island air that kept people healthy, and I wonder if, with people travelling in and out of that hole in the bubble, perhaps some of the sickness of the outside world is coming in.

Nice thought on the Brazilian guys in season 2!

Brian: I agree, I think Widmore was definitely involved with Dharma. I think there's something more to him saying that he can't kill Widmore... Eric's idea that there's an immortality issue here is an interesting one.

fb: The Game starred Michael Douglas and Sean Penn, and it rocked.

OK, I should totally check IMDB before I make a comment on someone's accent!! I think Alan Dale's American accent is impeccable, but his British one sucks. It would make sense to a certain extent that he's a Kiwi, because somehow New Zealander and Australian actors can do impeccable American accents (to the point of someone like Mel Gibson just taking it on full time) but tend to have shoddier British ones. In past episodes, Widmore has had stronger and less stronger accents, and it's just not clear what he's supposed to be at this point. :)

The doorbell was hilarious, I agree. I immediately thought, "They have DOORBELLS?!" hahaha... it just killed me, because I could have sworn in "One of Us" Juliet knocked on Ben's door and didn't use a doorbell when she was delivering the X-ray. But we've probably heard doorbells before. It was just SO bizarre in the heat of battle.

Great link to Charlotte!! My husband was watching and he said, "I hate that they just put 'Sahara Desert' on the screen, they've never done that before!" and I said to him that in the episode where they flashbacked on the freighter folk, they had place names for each one, and my mind went to the archaeological dig... and then stopped there without making the connection you just did. :) I love that! Maybe the polar bear slipped through a wormhole by accident...

Danielle: I wonder if Ben knows the general vicinity of the cabin, but it'll take Hurley to spot it because it keeps popping around that area?

scrvet: I think it was simply a club of some kind that he can pull out and flick out to a longer piece (don't police officers carry a similar device?)

Chapati Kid: Sawyer is definitely a hero. He was amazing in that scene. But I'm still convinced that Keamy -- who was in the Marine Corps and is probably a sharpshooter like no other -- was purposely trying not to hit him.

I agree about the wormhole idea. I think Ben and Widmore discovered the wormholes somehow, and maybe Ben has closed up the one giving access to the island, and that's what he meant about Widmore not being able to find it now.

One of the best episodes ever. Not as good as the latest Desmond, but it was still damn good.Didn't see some of those deaths coming. Very, very surprised.Also, did you catch the subtle Star Trek reference, when the Boaties started to attack the camp? Sawyer warned the guy to 'get back in his house,' right before he was shot. Did you notice his shirt? And did you notice the shirt of the OTHER guy who got killed shortly after? They were both red. Red shirts. Hilarious.All in all, great episode, new questions were raised, some old ones were pseudo answered (Ben controls Smokey?! Does that mean he was the one who told it to kill Ecko and the pilot, too???), but it definitely was a great way to come back!

One more comment in response to the chapati kid: I'm pretty sure that when Ben was lying on the ground in the opening scene his breath was all smokie (not that smokie, you know what I mean!), suggesting that he had just come from somewhere cold and still had cold air in his lungs. I may be wrong, but I thought I saw that. So that's why I thought he had come from somewhere cold, not just thought he was going somewhere cold ...

So, maybe that "cryptic" message I got from you-know-who was not so cryptic after all. Essentially he said, "...there will be LOTS of dying."

A couple of quick thoughts to add to your discussion here - what about Jacob? You have mentioned that Widmore and Ben seem to possibly be involved in some kind of real life game, which I am feeling as well - I see Jacob as the DungeonMaster, as it were. With Widmore and Ben playing against each other for certain stakes - kind of like Risk, but instead of JUST playing for countries or continents, they are playing for the Island, money, power, and goodness knows what else. They are given certain "pawns" to progress the game. I would say that Alex is/was a pawn, Locke, Hurley, Juliet, possibly every person on Oceanic 815. Certain things like Smokey could be obstacles or "booby-traps" that Jacob throws into the playing field. Ben has been on the island long enough to have learned ways to control Smokey maybe, without really knowing WHAT Smokey is.

Another part of the game could be how to control the pawns. Ben using Locke's dad to try to control him; using Kate to control Jack and Sawyer to control Kate. Even Widmore has been using his daughter to try to control Desmond - or vice versa...CREEPY!

So much to digest, and I'm still thinking about it all. I feel a MAJOR rewatch coming on...

Eric: That's so weird, because I thought I saw something like that, too, and thought it was just my imagination, but that makes sense. He could have been in a very cold place and hurt his arm somehow and figured out how to instantly teleport out. How did he hurt his arm, I wonder? Wraslin' the polar bear that he was trying to bring with him to leave in the desert for Charlotte to find a year earlier?

I saw this as a theory on Lostpedia and thought it was worth mentioning. Ben can't kill Widmore because Widmore is like Michael: he left the island, but has unfinished business there, and thus the "island" won't allow him to die.

Amy: Agreed all around. Jacob is clearly pulling the strings, but this Ben vs. Widmore thing has me more intrigued than anything. Still trying to put thoughts together and then I'll add another line to my post. Or start another one. :)

Oh, and by the way, I'm just on here taking a break from reading a certain manuscript. *cough*... I'll get back on that now. ;)

Brian: Ah, and here I thought I was about to post an original thought... but after about 2 a.m. the night after an episode, I think all original thoughts have pretty much been expended, haha! I was just about to say maybe he can't die in the same way Michael couldn't.

Amy: LOL! I know that, I was just cracking a joke. I love having you here! And you're right: This show has so many parallels with Star Wars it's crazy. :) I would love to read that post if you write it!!

Wow that episode left me shell shocked. I'm still reeling, totally not the kind of episode I was expecting! I'm still letting it sink in...

Favorite moments:- more like I can't believe they did that moment...I was floored when Alex was actually shot. I do think her death serves a purpose but I honestly didn't think they would go through with it, I'll miss her- Ben playing chicken with Keamy and losing and saying goodbye to Alex- Sawyer defending Hurley and Claire...is he becoming Mr. Softie?

Questions- your article covered them all basically! but lets see...- I did find it odd that there were these hails of bullets yet not one of them hit Sawyer. I do think they were trying to shoot him, its one of those movie moments where they do not get hit- Ben and Widmore have been in cahoots all along. I have a feeling Widmore can't be shot because he has a deeper connection to the island, similar to the way Michael can't die according to Friendly. Was Widmore born on the island?- Seems rather convenient Claire survived an explosion that would killed anyone else...given what Darlton has said in interviews about Claire being more pivotal in future episodes, could the explosion cause Claire to have Desmond like visions? Could she foresee a future where Aaron is in danger if she doesn't get him off the island?

It seems that the tone of the show has changed, it is taking a more action adventure Alias kind of vibe. I think Michael Emerson is brilliant, but I think it'll take a bit of getting used to him in an Indiana Jones kind of role!

@ Roland ~ I had a friend last night also picking up an "Arvin Sloane" vibe from Ben. Especially after that scene with Alex. Interestingly enough - I believe that Ben is the more sympathetic of the two. Whereas he seemed to truly believe that Alex would not be killed - due to the unknown "rules" - so was genuinely devastated by her death...Arvin believed that Nadia's death was part of the sacrifices he had to make to discover all of Rambaldi's secrets.

Aside from that though, there are some really creepy similarities between Ben and Arvin, and maybe a little bit by design. After all, the Ultimate Drew was a co-writer of last night's ep, and he wrote for Alias during it's last season :D

I guess I'm the only who thinks this show has not only jumped the shark, but the whale, the squid, the octopus and every other kind of marine life. I can't necessarily put my finger on it, but it's just lacking...intrigue. Everything that has happened this season I have seen coming...except of course for the systematic execution of nearly every character. No one's going to be shocked by the final scene...we'll know the only two living people are the ones in it.And how many times do we have to see someone ask Jack "why aren't they here yet" and he has to say "I don't know," and then they go talk to Daniel about it. And I love Sawyer being a hero, but I expected a transition, not an overnight become a good guy. But then again, maybe it was a transition, but we just haven't seen his story at all.I'm not wild about all the time-travel teleporation stuff, but I can accept the show is sci-fi. But somehow, they took a show that had me just loving all these characters and so wrapped up in what happened to them, and now I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that they'll all die. Here's hoping this is just some elaborate dream of Sidney Bristow.

Roland: I, too, gasped out loud when he shot Alex, yet as Ben was talking and saying those things I thought, "Oh no, oh no, Keamy's going to call his bluff" and I braced myself for the shot. And yet, still gasped when it happened. :(

You're right; the Claire survival was about as believable as Sawyer surviving the hail of bullets while hiding behind a 2-foot-tall picket fence. I'm assuming that will play into the story; otherwise she just would have been in the house with the rest of them.

Amy: THANK YOU!! Through that scene it was driving me NUTS trying to figure out who he was reminding me of. "Kevin Spacey... no, that was season 2..." And of course, it's Arvin Sloane. Perfect analogy!!

Anonymous: I'm sorry to hear you feel that way. I think the show is having its best season yet, and I thought that last year, too. It's just getting better and better for me. :)

At work so I must be brief...The Game is a good movie and the book too will twist your brain, it's THE MAGUS by John Fowles. It's in my list of favorite top five books. You could liken the movie connection to that of Apocolypse Now, and HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad... The books take place in different times and in different places than the movies but the stories are still there...Another literary reference: Dean Moriarty. That's the fictional name of Neil Cassady... Kerouac's real buddy and some say the real genius of those two... Cassady went on to be the bus driver for Ken Kesey and The Merry Pranksters sojourn across the USA as chronicled in THE ELECTRIC KOOL-AID ACID TEST by Tom Wolfe... both by Kerouac's and Wolfe's account he possessed a preternatural driving skill and was more "ahead" of everyone around him because his perception perception of the moment, his synaptic speed, was faster than everyone's... Maybe the Moriarty reference to suggest that for now, Ben will be driving the bus...

The last conversation between Ben and Widmore kind of makes me think that Penny, at the time of the flash forward, is on the island. That is why Mr. Widmore said you'll never find her and that the race to find the island is on.

My first thought when I saw Jack's illness was appendicitis. The symptoms were very much like my attack. Which is a very bad thing for him, since he's the only doctor.

Unless there's another doctor on the freighter (as the call to the boat would indicate). And that's why Jack gets off the island.

My first thought when Ben mentioned 'he changed the rules' was that he was referring to Jacob. Surprised that he meant Widdmore.

I didn't start out liking Sawyer. Silly me. Kate is stupid.

There seemed to be carvings on the door to wherever Ben went, and when he came back he was filthy and tired. I think this is somehow tied to the big four-toed statue. And the Temple.

Oh, my poor, darling Sayid. Though he spent eight years looking for Nadia with a side trip to Shannon land. I think Sayid is incapable of casual sex. To be with a woman he has to convince himself he's in love with her. My romantic guy.

Hey guys, I thought Darlton said we would find out if Rousseau is really dead or not this episode? I figure Karl is really dead just by where he got shot, unless he saw taller Ghost Walt and pulled a Locke! They didn't show Rousseau at all!

One other little moment that surprised me that nobody has mentioned is the phone ringing. Just like how some of us were surprised when the doorbell rang, I was surprised with the phone. I think I must have had a similar look on my face to the ones on Locke, Sawyer and Hurley. I didn't think there were any phones - of course, this wasn't a "normal" phone since it has no numbers on it.

sorry - at work and don't have time to read all the comments so I apologize in advance if I'm repeating someone else here:

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I wasn't sure what you meant by this comment - do you mean his American accent seems fake? Alan Dale is from New Zealand and speaks with a Kiwi accent normally.

- Widmore changing the rules/Ben can't kill Widmore - I think this has more to do with the events that we saw in the season 2 finale with Des going back into the past and the clock lady telling him "Well, I know your name as well as I know that you that don't ask Penny to marry you. In fact, you break her heart. Well, breaking her heart is, of course, what drives you in a few short years from now to enter that sailing race -- to prove her father wrong -- which brings you to the island where you spend the next 3 years of your life entering numbers into the computer until you are forced to turn that failsafe key. And if you don't do those things, Desmond David Hume, every single one of us is dead. So give me that sodding ring." and then..."Because it wouldn't matter. Had I warned him about the scaffolding tomorrow he'd be hit by a taxi. If I warned him about the taxi, he'd fall in the shower and break his neck. The universe, unfortunately, has a way of course correcting. That man was supposed to die. That was his path just as it's your path to go to the island. You don't do it because you choose to, Desmond. You do it because you're supposed to. " in "Flashes Before Your Eyes" - I think that some of these characters have had this "time travel" experience and know what is exactly supposed to happen - and if someone breaks those "rule" - well...just don't cross Ben if you do - lol.

- Jack being sick - you know, I've wondered ever since we got the flash forwards why Jack left the others behind. It would make sense if he left because he was sick and had no choice. I don't think it's the same sickness that Rousseau is referring to. I think "that" sickness is more psychological - maybe becoming one of the Others or having this past/present flashback problem.

- Alex's death was just as heartbreaking as Charlie's - oh man!

- It seems as though Sawyer is becoming the reluctant hero. He's taken Kate and Hurley under his wing already - and now it seems as though "Mamacita" and "Baby Huey" are in his little gang now too. It's killing be though because we've all seen what happens to heros on this island.

Roland: I could be wrong, but I think Darlton said that we'd find out at some point this season if Rousseau was dead, not necessarily this episode? Or am I wrong?

Michele: The phone surprised me, too... I don't think we've ever seen a phone being used, just walkies and intercoms.

Michelle: As I addressed above, I didn't know he was a Kiwi. I just went and changed my post.

I wondered a similar thing about the changing the rules thing, and you put it nicely: could this have something to do with course correcting? If all life is supposed to follow one course, does Ben know that Alex is supposed to live and do other things, and now Widmore just stepped on the proverbial cockroach, so to speak?

Brian: Great theory!! I really hope Adam and Eve come into play again soon.

Another question re: Ben. All this talk of this being a game between he and Widmore makes me wonder. After Alex is killed he said "He's changed the rules" (in reference to Widmore obviously). Ben is devastated. Now, is Ben feeling this way because his daughter is dead or is it because, as Amy implied, that Alex was a pawn....was she his most valuable piece in this game? If the latter, of course he would say "She's not my daughter" to play within the agreed upon rules and remind Widmore via Keamy that he would be breaking them. I mean why wouldn't Keamy kill Alex if it wasn't a game....I would. Then Keamy ignores the statement anyway, kills Alex and Ben says "he changed the rules" and seems devastated. If this is all a game, I'm going to be ticked. However, if it isn't, I thought it was nice closure at the end that Ben promised to kill Widmore's daughter....the guilt of letting his "daughter" die he would have been carrying around with...nice to know he feels sorrow and regret. But, now I'm beginning to think it's all a game, and we have to pick which one we hate more.

The game would include certain pawns/pieces that were off-limits...eg Alex. By killing Alex, Widmore changed the rules, Ben was devastated with realizaion of what else this could mean to him. Not sorry that his "daughter' was dead but that his most valuable playing piece was taken out of the game through rule breaking.

As a follow up to my "what if" post, maybe Widmore knew this was Penelope's destiny which is why he was trying to keep her away from Desmond (and in doing so ironically contributed to the very events he sought to prevent). But then, we know about "course correcting" so it's posible Desmond/Penny would have ended up there regardless.

You know...something just occurred to me. Do we know if Widmore has any more daughters other than Penny? Whose to say that Ben was talking about Penny at all? I was so exhausted last night that I can't remember the conversation exactly...but I don't recall Ben ever mentioning her by name. Could there be an illigitamate child out there? If so - who knows who it could be. Egads...this is just too confusing! My head hurts...lol.

now, i don't know if i was tired, but during the recap [of what's happened so far], i thought we saw a "new" angle of Rousseau being shot. if any of you guys have the episode TIVO-corded (hehe, i can make up words too!), i thought i had seen a bullet hole in Frenchie's stomach! Am i wrong? i hope so...

I, too, can't believe they killed off Alex. Alex is practically the moral center of the island--we've seen her save Losties repeatedly (first Claire, then Kate and Sawyer, etc.) and even though she's Ben's daughter we've always seen her in a good light. I wonder if this means all bets are off--the island has lost its only innocent inhabitant (with the exception of Aaron) and what we're left with is bleak.

Hello Nikki!! Missed these discussions. I am rewatching last night's episode, after watching last nights ER, which I sacrificed to watch Lost. I love my DVR. Anyway, just got to the part with Ben in the Sahara. In the overhead shot of Ben laying spread-eagle on the sand, right after he puffs out a white vapor, if you look closely at his boots, I swear it looks like little clumps of snow are stuck to them. Also, he's wearing a Dharma parka, similar to our Air Force parkas. The name on it is Halliwax. "Wax", as in Candle. Was was the name of the Asian man who did all of the Dharma orientation films. He had a few different names and they all related to candles, didn't they? Just a thought.

I forgot to finish the thought. The last time I saw a clip from a Dharma Orientation video, the Asian guy was holding a bunny when an identical bunny appeared behind him. That was in the Orchid station, if I remember correctly. What if the Orchid Station is how you get off the island and it is beneath Ben's house. That's where he went last night when he "summoned" the smoke monster. Am I just overtired, or does this make any sense. Sorry for the double post.

RE: Anonymous - Jacob means "he deceives". Maybe Jacob is not the God-like character, but a devil-like character. Who then, does that make Ben? -- That's an interesting point, but we can also say that the devil, being in fact a deceiver, might show himself as good... This makes me think of another great show, unfortunately cancelled - HBO's Carnivale. In that show's theology, the destiny of humanity was balanced by the existence of two incarnations - the Creature of Darkness and the Creature of Light - who, through generations, fought each other for either Light or Darkness to rule on mankind. What's interesting is that the villain of the story (played by Clancy "Kelvin Inman" Brown, of Highlander fame) was a preacher who actually believed to be acting in behalf of God's will, therefore being - in his perspective - a "good guy". In a way, Ben's blind faith in the island could have corrupted him more than he realises...

- Oooh, I like the idea of Desmond and Penny being the "Adam & Eve" from S1 *_* It makes a lot of sense given that they have this very archetypical, pure love story.

- RE: How do Widmore and Ben know each other? I don't think this could be easily explained, for the simple reason that there's quite the age gap between the two. And ironically, Ben's date of birth is one of the few (or the only one?) we got as established. So I doubt they discovered the island together or anything. I tend to believe that, if someone was on the island in the past with Widmore, that person might be Christian Shephard. I had been toying with this idea since I've been pointed to the similarities with the graphic novel Watchmen (which was a BIG inspiration for Heroes too), where a big part of the storyline of the main characters was built on the consequences of what the previous generation of heroes did (and yes, this involves mysterious islands too).

Also, remember Christian's advice to little Jack, about not getting himself involved with things he can't change and basically go with the flow? We always thought that speech was just proof of Christian's moral weakness, but what if it's just a simplified (and bitter) version of Mrs. Hawkins' explanations on the universe course correcting himself? Christian is the way he is because he discovered the "secret" about the universe and destiny being already written and he gave up fighting, going down a self destructive path... just like Jack.

sdbrian: I thought the same thing about Rousseau... there was no blood in episode 8, which is why I thought her wound was different, but they added blood since then. Hmm... maybe they intended for us to assume she was dead, and when they heard the chatter that maybe she wasn't due to the lack of blood, they changed it?

Karolyn: I'll definitely go back and check the Sahara wake-up scene! Yes, "Halliwax" is the name Marvin Candle uses in the Orchid orientation video that they have online, so it's presumably his parka. I wonder if Ben's underground lair leads directly to the Orchid station?

poggy: Great comparison to Carnivale!! I loved that show... my husband asked me tonight if I thought Ben was evil, and I had to actually think about it for a second. I said maybe not now, but once Widmore changed the rules, he became evil. I think both of them are evil, it's just a matter of which one is worse...

The next question is , if it is snow on his shoes and cold air that came out of his mouth, where the heck did he come from? And why was he holding his breath as he appeared to be? What if the Orchid station is under Ben's house, and it is also a teleportation station (say that outloud to yourself. It's kinda funny) The only thing is that it doesn't directly teleport you to where you want to go, directly. Maybe it kind of bounces you around from station to station all over the world, until you get to where you want to be. (Kind of like the Floo Network in Harry Potter) I know it's out there and I'm sick right now, operating on little sleep so I could very well be completely off base here.

I don't know if this means anything, but in the final scene with Ben and Widmore, there is a painting on the wall to the left of Widmore's bed. I believe it's the Black Rock painting that he bought at the auction in The Constant. Strange painting to hang next to your bed. Kind of dark and depressing.

in a way, some of its themes - especially the recurring dualism - were kind of close to those of Lost, only explored in a different key. It had interesting insights on the "ethics" of "good" and "evil" character, having, for instance, the Light side (...of the Force, tee hee! I had to say it) almost appearing as bad because of the nasty things that had to be done for the greater good. And on the other hand, it had the supposedly negative character have genuinely sympathetic sides (like Justin helping the migrant children). Perhaps this could be applied to Lost, too... Ben and Widmore can be equally evil, with the Losties in the middle as the victims and "good ones". Or one of the two players might actually be doing something good for the destiny of our world - only, we don't have enough evidence to understand who it is.

And um, regardless of the fact that I have a soft spot for Ben and his deviously smart brain, he was the black figure surrounded by shadow in the final scene, while Widmore was in the only spot of light in the darkness... clue or red herring?

Thanks for the info Nikki! :)I actually think for another reason that I hope Rousseau is alive, I really would like to see how she deals with losing Alex after she just found her. There is so much potential drama there...

I felt exhausted after watching the show, my heart was frantic while Sawyer was being shot at,interesting to think that they could have been missing him on purpose, for what end? Who else could have saved Claire so completely? I've always considered him a hero so his actions don't surprise me, and as for warning them not to touch a single curly hair on Hurley's head? Sweet!

Re Widmore's accent. His "British" accent was nowhere to be found in the scenes with Ben, perhaps he uses it for other people but can be "himself", whoever that is, with Ben because they obviously have a past? I'm English myself and didn't hate his British accent (as I do when most non Brits try to use the accent) in the previous scenes he was in so it seemed to be making a point with me. I'm probably wrong!!

Isn't Juliet a doctor? Maybe with help she could fix Jack's appendix, if that's what it is.

Sayid broke my heart too. Naveen Andrews is such a good actor.

Poor Alex. I still can't feel bad for Ben though. I think he was sorry that Alex died but I've yet to see his heart, I don't believe he has one, so I expect he was more ticked off that his bluff was called, and Widmore "changed the rules" than being sorry that Alex died, if she did!! Can't count on anything in this show!

Boy! Is my man Desmond ever going to go postal if Ben touches a hair on Pen's head?! It would be perfect turnaround if Desmond, who Widmore has gone to great lengths to keep from Penny, was the one to ultimately save her.chbutdc

One thing I have been thinking about is why Ben's arm was cut. He was wearing an Orchid Jacket. Maybe when you travel through time through the Orchid something happens to you arm and that is how Marvin Candle lost his arm in the Pearl video. Just a thought.

I'm sticking by an old theory I have that Jack is Jacob from a different time. The fact that Jack is feeling sick could echo the way Jacob feels, because his island is under attack (notice how Jack got sick pretty much as soon as Keamy & Co. entered the jungle). I bet that when Ben, Locke and Hurley go visit Jacob, the mysterious invisible dude will be feeling pretty under-the-weather himself. (In fact, the episode two weeks from now is supposedly titled "Cabin Fever")!

Sorry I'm so late with blogging, but I've been really busy! Anyway, what an episode! I've already watched "The Shape of Things to Come" 4 times, and it really was that awesome! Ever since we found out about the Others near the end of season one, I've always wanted to see things culminate to some warfare, and we certainly got a taste of that tonight. "LOST" has truly evolved into something special, with camouflage soldiers and everything!Who would've thought that this kind of stuff would be happening way back in episode 1 of 2004? WOW.

Things I noticed/enjoyed:- Jack's realization that he was wrong about the "rescuers". (That's gotta sting)- Alex's death (so sudden, and I love it when Ben says "I'm not coming out of this house!")-Kate washing herself at the beginning (I have a huge crush for Evangeline Lily)-Those three survivors getting shot next to Sawyer = intense-I love how Sayid was employed by Ben, poor Nadia-The producers said that Ben's appearance in the desert will be a mystery not solved for quite a while. (I'm thinking the Orchid and he also visited Penelope's arctic people)-Ben's calling of Smokey = I just smile everytime I watch that part

Anyway, another great episode, and it has really set the pace for the rest of the show. I can't wait for "Something Nice Back Home", and can't wait to see how all of these events play out.

Since Ben wasn't sure of the date, it could be that the Ben we saw in this episode traveled backwards in time from a future where Widmore was still alive. Thus, he can't kill him now without creating a paradox.

hello, new here but reading what you wrote is really interesting..... my thought on the fact that ben woke up in Tunisia is perhaps something happened on the island and his last resort was to use this teleportation device to get away from it. That coat aswell looks very much like the coats that he had to move out of the way to get to the thing he pressed to get smokey out..... lastly i read somewhere that there are certain points on the earth that have some sort of connection and they can be used to teleport to the next point, something to do with that electro magnetism??? just a theory

Mostly, I write about television, and with this being the home of the Great Buffy Rewatch of 2011, a lot of that television is Joss Whedon-related (when it's not about Lost). Stick around if you love Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Sherlock, Lost, BtVS, Doctor Who, or anything on HBO.

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I've published companion guides to Xena, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Alias, and Lost through ECW Press, and my latest book is "Finding Lost — Season Six: The Unofficial Guide." Currently, I love Revenge, Community, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead... actually, pretty much everything on HBO or AMC.

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The Great Buffy Rewatch!

Welcome to the home of the Great Buffy Rewatch of 2011, where every Tuesday night we convened to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer from season 1 to the end. I was joined by over 25 guest commentators and Buffy scholars who helped me lead you through the watch, offering non-spoilery discussion for the new watchers as well as spoiler-filled discussions for the rewatchers. The entire Rewatch can be found in the archives here, listed by week and contributor. Go here for the full 2011 schedule, and here to see the list of amazing contributors. And be sure to pick up my book, Bite Me, a complete episode by episode guide to the series!